What to Wear for the Interview | The 5 Golden Questions (Fall Edition)

So you've sent out your resume, and you've got a call back for the interview. Congrats by the way! Now that you've got that down, the next thing is: what to wear? If you were a guy, you'd just throw on a button up shirt and some nice slacks and you are good to go. However, for women, there are literally thousands of options for what you can wear for an interview. There is casual dress, semi-casual dress, business professional dress, semi-professional...the list, and the clothing options gets longer and longer...

So where to start?

Ask yourself these 5 golden questions:

1. What type of business are you interviewing at?

The place you are interviewing at are going to have completely different feels to them. Goldman Sachs will  have an entirely different feel than Google. Take this into account when you are interviewing. When I interviewed at a recent startup, they were surprised at the fact that I dressed up, and I decided I wanted to work somewhere with more of a dress code. 

2. Did the person on the phone tell me how to dress?

Often HR can give you some tips when they are setting up an interview with you. Sometimes people forget to ask how to dress because they are so excited to interview, that they forget to ask key questions. 

3. What will the weather be like for the day of my interview?

You might not even think about this until you are stepping out of the door, but the weather can greatly impact what you will wear for a job interview. For fall, you might favor tights over longer skirts. 

4. How long will this interview be?

What you wear can depend on how lengthy your interview will be. You might want to skip on the heels or that uncomfortable button up shirt if you will be interviewing all day. 

5. Would I feel comfortable going to church in this? 

This is for my readers that are LDS or of any kind of faith. The LDS church advocates modesty, and often, many people do not think about if an outfit is modest or not, This is important for any woman, because you want to know you got a job because of your qualifications and not because of how short your skirt was.